What concerning trend did Hailey Van Lith notice after No. 9 TCU’s loss at No. 12 Kansas State?
A dejected Hailey Van Lith couldn’t hide the frustration on her face in the aftermath of TCU’s 59-50 loss to No. 12 Kansas State on Wednesday.
Van Lith, who spent time at Louisville and LSU before transferring to TCU this season, isn’t used to losing and said every defeat is a hard reality to accept. The most frustrating thing for Van Lith was the fact the Horned Frogs led a top-15 victory slip through their fingers.
TCU led 46-45 with 6:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, but only scored four more points the rest of the way as the Wildcats pulled away from TCU to secure sole possession of first place in the Big 12. It was only the third loss of the year for TCU, but Van Lith said afterwards she was seeing a troubling trend in each loss that must be corrected before March.
“In all of our losses we kind of had the same issue,” Van Lith said. “It’s not one person, we have a collective team issue. Coach says it to us all the time, it’s our hill we have to climb. When teams get aggressive and physical with us, sometimes we show up and sometimes we don’t.”
On the season TCU averages just under 80 points per game, but in each of their three losses to South Carolina, Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the Horned Frogs only averaged 53.7 points per game.
There are many reasons for the sudden change in production with one being that all three are quality teams ranked inside the top-25. The Gamecocks are the defending national champions and have the capability of repeating.
The losses against Oklahoma State and Kansas State were on the road in tough environments, but Van Lith is correct in her assertion that the Horned Frogs must be able to handle physicality better.
With the exception of the second quarter, Kansas State pushed TCU around with a blitzing defense that refused to let Madison Conner get clean looks from 3. Despite missing their best post player, the Wildcats were also successful in limiting the impact of TCU star center Sedona Prince.
Prince’s final numbers on paper, 14 points and 11 rebounds, ended up being solid, but it was also a struggle for her too as she turned the ball over four times due to double teams and looked uncomfortable until the fourth.
All three of TCU’s big three of Van Lith, Conner and Prince are crucial to TCU’s current success, but it’s Prince that truly makes TCU unique. There just aren’t many 6-foot-7 post players in the college game, let alone players that are as skilled as Prince.
TCU isn’t the same team when she’s not on her game, like when the Horned Frogs were blown out against South Carolina and Prince was held to just six points against the Gamecocks’ athletic front court.
But as Van Lith alluded to, it’s not just Prince who has to find consistency in dealing with physicality, it’s the entire team including herself. Van Lith had four turnovers and shot just 5-of-14 from the field, a performance that led her to be hard on herself postgame.
“That inconsistency is starting to cost us some games,” Van Lith said. “We lost twice on the road, so clearly those environments are a red flag for us. As a leader, as a point guard I need to help build some of my girls up and just get everybody confident in what they do.
“I’m going to challenge myself as a leader and I think we still have a great team. I’ve seen what teams look like when they have potential and I know we have it, it’s just on us to put it together.”
Van Lith’s mentality and ability to internally challenge herself bodes well for TCU for the rest of the regular season. TCU is taking the loss hard, but this is still a team that has shown it can deal with physicality like the Horned Frogs did in ranked wins over Notre Dame, Baylor and North Carolina State.
There aren’t many teams in the country with the athleticism of South Carolina and Kansas State, but if TCU wants to go on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament they’ll likely have to go through these types of teams.
